Benefits of optical fibers include extremely wide bandwidth and low noise operation. In cases where high bandwidth is required between two interconnection locations, fiber optic cables having fiber optic connectors can be used to communicate information between these locations. The fiber optic connectors can be used to conveniently connect and disconnect the fiber optic cables from the interconnection locations when maintenance and upgrades occur.
Each of the fiber optic connectors can include a ferrule assembly having a ferrule and an optical fiber. The ferrule has several purposes. The ferrule includes an internal pathway, called a ferrule bore, through which the optical fiber is supported and protected. The ferrule bore also includes an opening at an end face of the ferrule. The opening is where an optical surface of an end portion of the optical fiber may be precisely located to help ensure efficient optical coupling with the optical fiber of a complementary connector. In this regard, the end portion of the optical fiber needs to be precisely secured to the ferrule to prevent movement within the ferrule bore that may otherwise result in an uncertain position between the optical surface of the optical fiber and the optical fiber of the complementary connector. If a gap or a misalignment occurs between the optical fibers in a mated pair of connectors, signal loss, otherwise known as attenuation, may occur.
A bonding agent, for example an epoxy resin, is one approach to secure the optical fiber to the ferrule, but there are manufacturing challenges with this approach. Specifically, the ferrule is often first assembled with a fiber optic connector housing. The optical fiber and an uncured bonding agent are later inserted within the ferrule bore. The optical fiber may then be secured to the ferrule by curing the bonding agent. Curing is a chemical process specific for different types of bonding agents and may involve the bonding agent forming cross-linked thermoset structures, thus enabling secure bonds to be created between proximate objects. For many bonding agents compatible to secure the optical fiber to the ferrule, heat is required to bring the temperature of the bonding agent to a securing temperature to facilitate the bonding required of the bonding agent during curing. If the temperature does not reach this value, then a reduced percentage of bonding may occur, and the optical fiber may be inadequately secured to the ferrule.
To provide the heat to elevate the temperature, the optical fiber and ferrule are typically heated in an oven relatively slowly, for example approximately 20 minutes, to elevate the temperature of the bonding agent without damaging the fiber optic housing, which may be damaged by applying more intense heat to speed curing. The relatively slow heating process to protect the housing imposes a significant restriction on manufacturing efficiency.
Other heating devices, such as lasers, have been used to heat ferrules, and thereby cure the bonding agent disposed therein, so that faster curing can occur. However, for ferrules mostly enclosed within fiber optic connector housings, lasers are used only to directly heat a tip of the ferrule to avoid damaging the fiber optic connector housing. It can be a challenge to obtain sufficient adhesion/bonding while avoiding intense localized heating of the bonding agent with such approaches.